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The author's complaint was confusing to me because it didn't have enough context. This is a better article: http://www.teleread.com/drm/barnes-noble-removes-a

by jasode 12y ago

The author's complaint was confusing to me because it didn't have enough context. This is a better article: http://www.teleread.com/drm/barnes-noble-removes-ability-to-download-its-e-books-outside-of-the-nook-ecosystem/ http://www.teleread.com/drm/barnes-noble-removes-ability-to-... The author's article didn't mention "Nook" or "Nook ecosystem" which is crucial to inferring the motivations of B&N (and also the publishers) to remove the Download button. Without that context, it just looks like a random policy change that inadvertently irritated customers. In other words, I care more about 1) the "big picture" behind removing that download button rather than 2) the author's personal decision to stop buying ebooks from them As a reader, I can conclude #2 from #1. But I can't figure out #1 from #2 unless I find another article such as the one I added.

Psylocyber 12y ago
No surprise. The pedantic nature of your complaint is common on HN. I found the post to be perfectly clear. Perhaps you are looking for more information, and found it elsewhere, but it doesn't affect the quality of the post at all. In my day, posts like yours would be considered'trolling'. If you have complaints with the article, communicate with the author. Why subject everyone to your random complaints?
- sanderjd 12y ago
  This is unfair. Your parent's link was useful to me, and the rest of the post was context for why it was needed. Although I suppose it could have just said "I found this other article useful as background" and been a bit less pedantic.
- jasode 12y ago
  >If you have complaints with the article, communicate with the author. Complaining to the author isn't necessary because he may have thought the context was obvious -- especially to his keithp.com readers and also some HN readers such as you. I read HN articles every day and yet, I didn't have enough background to connect the dots. I didn't know B&N had a download button. My amazon ebooks account doesn't have that. I had no mental picture to understand what this download button was about. >Why subject everyone to your random complaints? I took extra steps to understand why things played out the way they did to force the author away from B&N. I thought it would be helpful to inform other HN readers of the link I read to gain that understanding. Isn't the comments section to be used to discuss/clarify/disagree with the article?
  - Zancarius 12y ago
    > I read HN articles every day and yet, I didn't have enough background to connect the dots. I didn't know B&N had a download button. My amazon ebooks account doesn't have that. I had no mental picture to understand what this download button was about. I agree, because I've never purchased from B&N before, I didn't have that context available either to fully appreciate the author's point. Hence why your link was useful to me as well. That's not to say the original article was without interest. It was, but superficially, (to me) it seemed like a disaffected customer upset with a UI change/removal (which is understandable).
- pessimizer 12y ago
  It was unintelligible for me, and the link posted by your 'troll' enabled me to understand what it was trying to say. >Why subject everyone to your random complaints? Pot (with throwaway account), meet kettle.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
matt_morgan 12y ago
You make a good point about clarity in writing, but don't forget you may not have been the intended audience. People don't write these posts always expecting them to go to #2 on HN. I've done work in ebooks and it was easy for me to infer #1 from what he said, and hastily conclude that BN is dropping its one real competitive advantage over AMZN. If they stick to this, they're giving up aiming for #1, and accepting a perpetual "minor player" spot.
Karunamon 12y ago
Why does the "big picture" matter in this case? This is an unfortunately all-too-common story: a company makes an ill-thought-out and obnoxious policy change with no regard to how it impacts normal people. That is always outrage-worthy.
andrewpk 12y ago
Thank you for putting this out there. I opened the nook app after reading this and promptly downloaded some old books, I then came back and read the comments to understand what the story was actually about. I had never actually used the website to download the ebooks so I was unaware that feature existed. If you download nook for PC/mac, the .epub files are readily accessible after you use the in-app download feature, and considering the author is already using Adobe Digital Editions under WINE, I'd assume the author can just as easily download use the nook pc app. The complaint seems valid to me, I just don't think it's worth leaving $500+ of books (assuming the author is stating they can no longer access books due to the removal of downloading via the web).
- steanne 12y ago
  the author isn't leaving any books. he'd previously downloaded everything purchased and asked for a refund for the one book he could no longer download.

by jasode 12y ago

Psylocyber 12y ago

No surprise. The pedantic nature of your complaint is common on HN. I found the post to be perfectly clear. Perhaps you are looking for more information, and found it elsewhere, but it doesn't affect the quality of the post at all. In my day, posts like yours would be considered'trolling'. If you have complaints with the article, communicate with the author. Why subject everyone to your random complaints?

sanderjd 12y ago
This is unfair. Your parent's link was useful to me, and the rest of the post was context for why it was needed. Although I suppose it could have just said "I found this other article useful as background" and been a bit less pedantic.
jasode 12y ago
>If you have complaints with the article, communicate with the author. Complaining to the author isn't necessary because he may have thought the context was obvious -- especially to his keithp.com readers and also some HN readers such as you. I read HN articles every day and yet, I didn't have enough background to connect the dots. I didn't know B&N had a download button. My amazon ebooks account doesn't have that. I had no mental picture to understand what this download button was about. >Why subject everyone to your random complaints? I took extra steps to understand why things played out the way they did to force the author away from B&N. I thought it would be helpful to inform other HN readers of the link I read to gain that understanding. Isn't the comments section to be used to discuss/clarify/disagree with the article?
- Zancarius 12y ago
  > I read HN articles every day and yet, I didn't have enough background to connect the dots. I didn't know B&N had a download button. My amazon ebooks account doesn't have that. I had no mental picture to understand what this download button was about. I agree, because I've never purchased from B&N before, I didn't have that context available either to fully appreciate the author's point. Hence why your link was useful to me as well. That's not to say the original article was without interest. It was, but superficially, (to me) it seemed like a disaffected customer upset with a UI change/removal (which is understandable).
pessimizer 12y ago
It was unintelligible for me, and the link posted by your 'troll' enabled me to understand what it was trying to say. >Why subject everyone to your random complaints? Pot (with throwaway account), meet kettle.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

matt_morgan 12y ago

You make a good point about clarity in writing, but don't forget you may not have been the intended audience. People don't write these posts always expecting them to go to #2 on HN. I've done work in ebooks and it was easy for me to infer #1 from what he said, and hastily conclude that BN is dropping its one real competitive advantage over AMZN. If they stick to this, they're giving up aiming for #1, and accepting a perpetual "minor player" spot.

Karunamon 12y ago

Why does the "big picture" matter in this case? This is an unfortunately all-too-common story: a company makes an ill-thought-out and obnoxious policy change with no regard to how it impacts normal people. That is always outrage-worthy.

andrewpk 12y ago

Thank you for putting this out there. I opened the nook app after reading this and promptly downloaded some old books, I then came back and read the comments to understand what the story was actually about. I had never actually used the website to download the ebooks so I was unaware that feature existed. If you download nook for PC/mac, the .epub files are readily accessible after you use the in-app download feature, and considering the author is already using Adobe Digital Editions under WINE, I'd assume the author can just as easily download use the nook pc app. The complaint seems valid to me, I just don't think it's worth leaving $500+ of books (assuming the author is stating they can no longer access books due to the removal of downloading via the web).

steanne 12y ago
the author isn't leaving any books. he'd previously downloaded everything purchased and asked for a refund for the one book he could no longer download.